The Cathedral And The Bazaar
by justin jarh
Summary: An alternate version of Season six in which Buffy isn't ressurected.
1. Default Chapter

The Cathedral And The Bazaar  
  
Chapter 1 - In which our heroines make an important discovery.  
  
Paula Morgan sighed as she closed the book that she had been reading and put it back on the shelf. She was a middle aged woman with short light brown hair and she was wearing a light grey trouser suit. She would have been the spitting image of a teacher or librarian were it not for the silver pentacal pinned to the right breast of her jacket. Starting her own coven had seemed like such a good idea at the time, after all she had been a member of Bettie's coven for ten years and she knew everything, or at least she had thought that she did. It had turned out to be a lot more responsibility than she had thought it would be. She had soon found herself over her head. So when one of the girls in the coven had told her about this place, a giant library of mystical texts, she had been overjoyed. Now though she was just feeling inadequate again. There were so many books, many of which were completely over her head, that she didn't know where to start. She was also a little overwhelmed by how many people there were here. From what she had heard she guessed that a lot of them were Yanks, but she had also heard people speaking in French and Russian and a few in languages that she didn't recognise.  
  
There was a tugging at Paula's leg. She turned to see a young girl, whose blonde hair was pulled into bunches and who was wearing a flowery white dress.  
  
"Mum, how long are we going to be?"  
  
Paula sighed again. She'd known that Debra would get bored here but she hadn't been able to find anyone to look after her. "Just a little longer." Paula grabbed another book and began leafing through it. Debra got a small ball out of her pocket and began bouncing it against the floor as she paced back and forth. "Be careful dear." Paula said absently. She hadn't met the two owners of this place but from what she had overheard during her short time here, they sounded rather scary. So she didn't want to get into their bad books by Debra breaking something.  
  
***  
  
Bounce, bounce.   
  
Debra didn't like it here. It was full of boring books and even more boring people.   
  
Bounce, bounce.   
  
She glanced at her mother wondering how long she would be. Was she going to read all the books here because there had to be at least a gazillion, maybe even two.   
  
Bounce, bou-  
  
"Oops!" Debra had reached to catch the ball and had instead knocked it bouncing down the library.  
  
"What did I just say?" Paula asked, scowling.  
  
"I'll get it." Debra set off running after the errant ball. As she ran down the library some of the people stopped reading to make vain attempts to catch the ball while others just ignored her. The ball left the main part of the library and entered the small cafeteria at one end. Hitting the hard floor it bounced up in the air, heading straight for the head of a young man who was sitting staring longingly at the empty glass that he was holding. Debra winced, expecting the ball to hit him, but, at the last moment, the man lifted his hand and caught it. The young man, who was wearing a rather garish looking shirt under a brown jacket and a small hat, turned to throw the ball back to Debra, giving her a wink. Debra giggled then ran off back to her mother.  
  
Whistler put his glass down and leant back in his seat. He was sitting at one of a group of small round tables. Most of the other tables were occupied by people who were either talking quietly or reading. A tall young woman approached and placed another drink next to him. "Thank you." Whistler said as he picked it up and took a sip. The young woman gave him a lop sided smile and it occurred to Whistler that while she looked a lot like a mother she had picked up a lot of grandmothers' mannerisms. "So where were we?"  
  
"We were talking about fate." The young woman, Jennifer, answered impatiently. She had asked him about how her grandmothers had come to own this place and apparently didn't see how that had lead to a long drawn out discussion about fate.  
  
"Of course. There's no such thing, you know." Whistler said with a smile.   
  
"So we're in complete control of our own destinies?" She seemed to be growing frustrated at how long it was taking for him to get to answer her question. He knew that he did sometimes take the long route to reaching the point of a conversation, but that did have the benefit that it meant the other person would be buying him drinks for longer.  
  
"Yes. Ours and everyone else's. It's all about choices. Every choice we make, every fork in the road that we come to, rebuilds the future anew in a different form." He paused to take another drink, then studied his companion a moment, seeing that he had her full attention he went on, "Of course sometimes the smallest of choices can have a profound effect. We can rewrite the story of our lives with a decision that seems to be insignificant. Such as whether or not to take a shortcut to meet our friends."  
  
***  
  
Willow glanced at her watch and cursed inwardly. She was going to be late. She and Tara had been just about to leave for a meeting to discuss the spate of unexplained attacks that had been happening recently when Willow had realised that one of the textbooks that she would need the next day was missing. They'd spent several frantic minutes looking for the book but without any luck. Finally Willow had told Tara to go on ahead and that she would catch up. Eventually after opening every bag and going through every drawer in the house Willow decided to look under the bed. There was no way that it was there but she decided to look anyway, just to put her mind at ease. No sooner had she reached under the bed than her had had rested on a large, hardback book. Pulling the book out Willow guessed that she must have dropped it and then kicked it under the bed. She just didn't know how it had been so long before she had looked for it. Willow knew that she had been distracted recently, what with organising their patrols and helping look after the house and Dawn, but that wasn't really an excuse. Willow also knew that being a little late wouldn't make any difference in the great scheme of things yet there was something about the others starting to research without her that was irksome.   
  
Willow stopped as she passed a narrow alley. It was a shortcut to the Magic Box that would get her there earlier. The problem was that sometimes the way was blocked off. After dithering for a few moments Willow decided not to risk it. After taking a few steps she remembered that the alley was almost never blocked on a Thursday so, turning back, she started down it. Willow was just starting to think that she wouldn't be too late when she came to a small van backed up into the alley.  
  
"Damn." Willow muttered as she turned and retraced her steps. All the way telling herself that being late wouldn't matter to anyone.  
  
***  
  
Willow pushed into the magic box, slightly out of breath. A quick look round told her that her worries had been right and that everyone had started without her. While Willow knew that it was silly to expect everyone to wait for her before starting, she found that a part of her did expect just that.  
  
Xander, Anya and Tara were sitting round the table with a large pile of books in between them. Xander and Anya were sitting next to each other at one end of the table, while Tara sat at the other end looking lonely on her own. Giles was standing a short distance away, an open book in one hand and his glasses in the other. Looking up Tara smiled and gave Willow a small wave.  
  
Willow returned it then asked, "Have I missed much?"  
  
Giles gestured at her with his glasses, "Oh no. We're still just trying to an handle on what's behind these attacks." Putting his glasses back on Giles looked at the book that he was holding then asked, "Does anyone have Thomson's Bestiary?" At the chorus of nos, he said to himself , "Oh... Well, I must have left it on the shelf."  
  
Willow had just been going to join Tara when she changed course she said, "I'll get it." Willow browsed the shelves for a few seconds before finding the book in question and going to pull it out. Willow had just pulled it out a little way when she stopped, thought a moment, and pushed it back in again. Willow started to pull the book out again, wondering why this simple action triggered such strong memories. Not really memories as such, but strong feelings. Feelings of pain, despair and defeat. Willow tried putting the book back and pulling it out again, but it didn't give her any clues as to what she was remembering. Willow was about to try again when it occurred to her that she probably looked pretty silly. Getting the book from the shelf, Willow went to hand it to Giles before going to sit next to Tara.  
  
Tara gave Willow a concerned look before asking, "Is something wrong? You seemed... confused for a moment."  
  
Willow took Tara's hand and answered, "No, I just had sorta had deja vue-ish moment."  
  
"Will, you know what that means?" Xander asked, a large smirk on his face.  
  
Willow knew that she'd probably regret it but still she asked, "What?"  
  
"That there's a glitch in the Matrix."   
  
Anya slapped Xander's arm, "You're not still going on about that silly movie are you?"  
  
"Hey!" Xander replied indignantly, lightly rubbing his arm.  
  
Willow ignored all this. She had just remembered why getting the book had seemed so strange. She had seen Buffy do it several times when she had been walking in Buffy's mind. Part of her wished that she had never done it. That they had left Buffy like that and gone to deal with Glory alone. She knew this was silly and that they couldn't have stopped Glory without Buffy's help, but that stop her seeing Buffy, looking so broken and small - atop the pile of rubble, every time that she closed her eyes. Nor did it stop her from feeling that she was responsible for Buffy's death. As Willow remembered what she had seen in Buffy's mind she remembered what Buffy's Spirit guide had said, "Death is your gift." At the time neither of them had understood it but now it seemed obvious. Death had been Buffy's gift to Dawn, and to the world. After all she had saved both of them when she died. Realising that this wasn't helping find the attacker Willow put it out of her mind, but now that she had remembered what had happened, a part of her couldn't help going over it.  
  
***  
  
The meeting went on for a couple of hours without much progress being made. Willow and Tara were finally leaving when Willow stopped as a thought occurred to her: She had thought that the spirit guide had meant that death was Buffy's gift to the world, but what if it was the world's gift to Buffy? Shaken by this thought, Willow continued out.  
  
***  
  
Dawn was sitting in the living room of her home, trying to get her homework done. She didn't see why she should have to do homework. She was, after all, mourning the loss of her sister. Of course her teachers didn't know this but they ought to be more sensitive to her needs. Dawn glanced up to see that Spike was fidgeting with a pack of cigarettes. "You don't have to stay."  
  
"Of course I do. I promised, didn't I?" Spike went back to the cigarettes, as if this closed the matter.  
  
"But I should be safe now. I mean I'm not the key any more, or at least I don't fit any locks so there's..."  
  
"Did Giles tell you that?"  
  
"No but it seems logical." Dawn wondered why she had never spoken to Giles about what the failed attempt at opening the portal meant. Perhaps because she had been worried he wouldn't tell her or, even worse, that he would.  
  
"Logical, right. Well listen good Nibblet, there's a lot of very nasty creatures out there who'd like to get their hands on you, key or no. If only to pay you back for stopping Glory."  
  
Dawn nodded, she still didn't see why she needed to be watched like this, but she couldn't be bothered to argue about it any more. Argueing with Spike was often a waste of time anyway. Coughing a little from Spike's cigarette smoke, Dawn turned back to her homework.  
  
***  
  
Willow and Tara moved round the bedroom, both getting ready for bed. Tara was explaining how Dawn had complained about Spike smoking when he looked after her, while she rubbed some skin lotion into her arms. "... So I said I'd tell Spike to stop it."  
  
"Uh-huh." Willow said in a far away tone. She was slowly brushing her hair, her nose wrinkled in annoyance.  
  
Tara glanced at Willow a moment. She had the feeling that Willow wasn't listening to her and seeing Willow's expression confirmed this fact. A slight, mischievous smile formed on Tara's face as she said, "Oh, by the way, I'm pregnant and I'm moving to Antarctica to study penguins."  
  
"That's nice." Willow's brush froze in midair. "You what? I mean, when, how, who?" Willow stopped again and, blushing, she admitted, "Okay, so I've been distracto girl lately. It's just, you know me and my busy brain. Always thinking, thinking, thinking."  
  
Tara motioned for Willow to join her. Willow got up and moved to sit next to her. Putting her arms round Willow's shoulders, Tara said, "Anything that you want to share? I mean you don't have to, but it might help."  
  
Willow seemed to consider this a moment then said, slowly, "I've been thinking about Buffy, where she is. We don't really know, do we?"  
  
Willow rested her head on Tara's shoulder and Tara began to stroke her hair as she said, "But you... I mean we thought that she was trapped in a hell dimension."  
  
"But we don't know for certain do we?"  
  
"I, um..." Tara stopped, not sure she could tell Willow about the doubts she'd been having. About how she probably wouldn't have gone through with the spell if Willow hadn't been so certain that it was the right thing to do.  
  
Willow turned and gazed into Tara's eyes a moment. Then, as if understanding what Tara was thinking, she said, "You didn't want to resurrect Buffy did you?"  
  
"Well I wasn't sure that it was right, but you seemed so certain." Tara hesitated a moment, "Besides I miss Buffy."  
  
"I do too." Willow frowned as something occurred to her, "If I'm honest then that is the main reason for wanting to bring Buffy back. But is it the right reason?"   
  
"I don't know." Tara answered honestly. She kissed Willow softly, "Maybe we should discuss it with the others?"  
  
Willow nodded, "Okay."  
  
They both moved to get into bed. Tara slipped into the bed behind Willow and wrapped her arms round her waist, pulling her close. As Tara rested her head behind Willow's she had an idea. "We could try a seance."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"A seance, to talk to Buffy."  
  
Willow rolled over so she could look at Tara then said, "I didn't think that they normally worked."  
  
"Well no, because the person doing it isn't..."  
  
"A witch?" Willow guessed.  
  
"Isn't really trying. It's just a con."  
  
"So we'll be able to talk to Buffy?"  
  
"We should be able to. I mean I think so." Tara hedged her words, not wanting to get Willow's hopes up.  
  
"Okay then, that's a good idea. When should we do it?"  
  
"Tomorrow is the dark of the moon, so then would be best."  
  
"Okay then tomorrow it is." Willow rolled back over and Tara again snuggled up close behind her.  
  
***  
  
Willow lay very still, thinking about the conversation. At first she was excited about the seance but then she became worried, what if Buffy did tell them she was in heaven? Then they'd have no justification for the resurrection. Willow missed Buffy and she found it very hard to imagine going on without her being there. She immediately berated herself for being selfish. After having been in Buffy's head she knew how much pressure having to carry the weight of the world had caused Buffy. If anything having to carry on the patrolling had underlined this fact to her. And so far they hadn't had to deal with any apocalypses. Willow realised that it was wrong of her to deny Buffy any chance that she might have to find peace. Still confused by all these differing emotions Willow sank into a disturbed sleep.  
  
***  
  
When Willow and Tara got back from their classes they pulled the curtains in the dining room tightly shut then started to set the spell up. They put a white cloth on the table then put a ring of candles around it with a bowl in the middle. Willow lit all the candles while Tara filled the bowl with water, then poured a few drops of black ink into it. They both sat down at opposite ends of the table.  
  
"So what do we do?" Willow asked, slightly nervous.  
  
"We need to look into the black mirror and try to think about Buffy, try to picture her as clearly as possible. If you have any strong memories of her then try to think of those."  
  
Willow nodded as she stared into the bowl and tried to form a picture of Buffy's face in her mind. She was horrified to find that she couldn't. It had only been a few months since Buffy had died and she had been patrolling with the Buffy-bot most nights, but she just couldn't do it. Worse still Willow couldn't concentrate on any memories of her time with Buffy. Every time a memory started to form and Willow tried to concentrate on it, it would escape her grasp.  
  
After several minutes of trying Willow opened her eyes and said, "I don't think..." She stopped as a light began to form around Tara. Tara suddenly threw her head back and a gasp escaped her lips. "Tara?"  
  
Tara lowered her head to gaze at Willow. She noticed that Tara's eyes were a slightly different colour. "Hey Will." Tara said cheerfully in a voice that was totally wrong.  
  
"Buffy?" Willow was surprised that it was working. Not only had she not been able to form a coherent picture of Buffy but she hadn't felt any energy go into the spell. That meant that Tara had supplied all the energy for the spell, which meant that she was a lot more powerful than Willow suspected. Willow wondered why Tara had always let her believe that she was the stronger of the two.  
  
"Who else?"   
  
"Um, suddenly I'm not sure what to say. I mean I have so much to ask but I don't know where to start and I really think I should have written notes because my mind has suddenly gone blank." Willow couldn't believe this. She had been rehearsing what to say to Buffy ever since Tara had come up with the idea. Now that she was actually faced with her best friend she had suddenly turned into a babbling idiot.  
  
"Will, it's okay, I know why you called. You want to know where I am." Willow just nodded. "Well don't worry about me, I don't know exactly where I am but I'm somewhere good, somewhere peaceful. It really is beautiful here"  
  
"So You're happy?" Willow realised this was the most important thing. Was Buffy happy where she was, or did she want to return.  
  
Tara, or more accurately Buffy, laughed, "Yes. Death was my gift. There is only one thing ruining it all for me." Buffy sobered a moment, "I know that you're having trouble."  
  
"We're trying but it's so hard. I don't know how long we can keep going."  
  
Buffy nodded, "You've done really well but you need help. You need a slayer."  
  
"What do... Oh." Willow suddenly understood what Buffy was saying. "I'm not sure that that's going to go down well."   
  
"I know but she really has changed."  
  
Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all this was the president of the Faith is evil and she'll never change club talking. "You didn't think that before."  
  
"Well dying has helped me put things in perspective. Listen Will I can't stay long."  
  
"I miss you so much."  
  
"I would say that I miss you, but I don't. Because in a way, I'm still with you, I'll always be with you all." With that Tara slumped forwards.  
  
Willow raced round to her, "Tara, Tara."  
  
Tara looked up, a bleary expression on her face,"Sorry."  
  
"Why sorry?"  
  
Tara looked about uncertainly, "I think I must... I guess that I dozed off. I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how tired I was." Willow saw her crunch her brow in confusion, obviously still not sure what had happened.  
  
Willow explained, "But the spell worked. I spoke to Buffy." Despite how happy she was, Willow was also growing very confused about what had happened. If Tara hadn't been responsible for the spell working then the only explanation was that it had to be some third party.  
  
"It did? You did?"  
  
Willow was starting to grow worried about who it had been who had helped the spell work when it occurred to her that it might well have been Buffy, wanting to reassure them. Willow smiled, happy that the panic was over. "Yes."  
  
***  
  
Tara didn't ask how the conversation had gone. She didn't have to. Willow's expression told her everything.  
  
***  
  
Tara was starting to get distracted. She was trying to do some of the course reading before the others arrived but this was made difficult by Willow pacing back and forth in front of her. She was about to say something when Willow stopped at the window and, pulling the curtain back, she glanced out the window nervously. "They should be here any moment."  
  
Tara looked up from her work, "Do you really think that they'll take it badly?"  
  
"Well they'll be disappointed that we're not going ahead with the resurrection. Especially Xander."  
  
Tara got up and went over to join Willow. Slowly rubbing her arm she said, "But won't he be happy that she's somewhere nice?"  
  
"Oh yes, I'm sure he will. That's not the part that I'm worried about though."  
  
"Faith." Tara guessed. "I guess it's going to be hard to sell them that idea."  
  
"Yeah, mostly because I'm not convinced myself. I want to believe that Faith has changed but I have to say that I'm still worried." From Willow's worried expression Tara guessed she was thinking about the time she had been kidnapped by Mayor Wilkins. Shortly after Buffy and Faith had swapped bodies Willow had explained how Faith had threatened her and how, looking in Faith's eyes, she had been convinced that she was going to die.  
  
"I think that we ought to give Faith a chance, but that doesn't mean that we have to trust her. At least not right away." Tara moved behind Willow and circled her arms round Willows waist. "Whatever happens, we're going to get through it."  
  
Willow nodded, then looking back out the window, "They're here."   
  
***  
  
A man walked quickly across a sports field. He was late for a date with his girlfriend and had taken a short cut. He stopped a moment, when he was certain that he could hear something digging it's way up the ground towards him. Just as he started moving again, the ground in front of him opened up and something jumped out at him. He had just enough time to scream before it grabbed him.  
  
TBC 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - In which our heroines start looking for jobs and Faith is visited by the COW.

As Willow let Xander and Anya in she asked, hopefully, "Would either of you like a drink, before we get started?" Willow wasn't looking forward to telling them the change in plans and was willing to take any excuse to put it off.

"No, we're both good." Xander answered with a slight shake of his head. Obviously wanting to get to the reason for the meeting as soon as possible.

Willow led them into the living room where Tara greeted them both. Xander and Anya sat down on a couple of chairs, while Willow and Tara sat down opposite them. For a while no one spoke. Xander and Anya gazed at Willow and Tara expectantly, while Willow and Tara tried to figure out who should go first.

Finally Willow said, "We asked you here so we could talk about the resurrection."

"Ah." Xander said, is if finally understanding something, "I wondered why Giles wasn't here. So when are going to do it?"

"We're not." Tara said.

"But we've been planning this for a month now." Anya protested, "We've got everything ready."

"We spoke to Buffy..." Willow started.

"Will, she's dead." Xander interrupted. He looked a little incredulous, as if he thought that the stress was getting to Willow.

"We held a seance." Tara explained, "So that we could talk to her."

"Yeah." Willow nodded. "We thought that we should ask her before dragging her out of heaven."

"I still think you should have..." Xander stopped as he processed what Willow had just said. "Did you say heaven?"

Willow nodded, "There, or somewhere a lot like it. Anyway the point is she's happy."

"What bout the rest of us? Maybe you haven't noticed but patrol isn't going so well. The Buffy-bot Certainly isn't working as well as we hoped."

"I know" Willow said, getting annoyed. She was aware of the problems they'd been having. "I am the one who has to fix her... It every night."

"I know Will, I know." Xander said in a placating tone, "It's just... we need help."

Willow nodded, "Yeah we do. We have an idea about that." Willow turned to Tara for support. Tara took Willow's hand and gave it a slight squeeze. Turning back to the others Willow said, "We're going to..." Willow swallowed, then gathering her courage she said, "We're going to get Faith out of prison."

For a while no one responded.

"Are you both nuts?" Anya asked.

"That's what I was going to ask." Xander added. "After everything Faith's done?"

"Again, we know. But we think that Faith has changed."

Rising Xander asked, "What does Buffy think about this?"

"It was her idea." Tara answered in a quiet voice.

Xander sat down again as he tried to process this new information. Xander laughed, starting to sound a little hysterical. "Well of course she did. She won't be around when Faith goes berserk."

Not sure how she was going to convince Xander, but determined to try, Willow said, "You said yourself that we need help. We need a slayer."

"But not Faith."

"Then who?"

"How about Buffy?"

"No!" Tara said, "Xander, I know that you miss Buffy. We all do, but she's happy now and we can't take that away from her. What sort of friends would that make us."

"Well I guess that you've already made up your mind about this."

"Xander, we want you to be okay with this, but you're right we have made up our minds. I'd say that if Buffy thinks that we can trust Faith then I - guess that we can." Willow tried to make herself sound a lot more certain than she actually felt. What if Xander was right? Would she be able to live with herself if Faith hurt anyone?

Putting these worries aside Willow decided to press ahead to the next issue, hoping that it would be less controversial. "Now there's something else we need to discuss."

"And the fun just keeps on leaving." Even Xander realised that he was sounding childish as he said this.

Willow glowered at Xander who raised his hands in Submission. Seeing that she had everyone's attention Willow said, "It's about the Buffy-bot. keeping her... it running is taking a lot of time and money. I think that as soon as Faith arrives we should stop using it."

"What about Dawn?"

As a thought occurred to her, Tara surprised everyone by standing up. Seeing everyone turn towards her she said, "Excuse me a moment."

Leaving the room Tara went upstairs and knocked on the door to Dawn's room.

"Come in." Dawn called. Tara opened the door to find Dawn lying stretched out across her bed, a text book propped open in front of her. Looking up Dawn said, "I've almost finished my homework."

Tara nodded, "Can you come downstairs? We need to talk to you"

Dawn put her textbook away and followed Tara downstairs. Tara went to sit next to Willow while Dawn stood between the two groups, wondering if she was in trouble. The way everyone seemed to be annoyed about something gave the meeting a very interventiony feel. Dawn told herself she hadn't done anything wrong, aside from the stealing. Starting to grow nervous Dawn tried to tell herself that this wasn't about that.

Finally Willow turned to Dawn and said, "Dawn, We're going to try to get Faith released from prison so that she can help us with patrolling."

"Faith?" Dawn wasn't sure whether she should feel relieved or more nervous. She could still clearly remember what had happened about a year and a half ago.

_Dawn and Joyce had both been in the kitchen doing the washing up when it had happened. Dawn put the last plate away saying, "There, that's the drying done."_

_Joyce held up a glass and said, "You missed this."_

_Dawn shrugged sheepishly as she walked over to take it. She had just dried it when there was a knocking at the door. Putting the glass down Dawn said, "I'll get it." Dawn went to the front door and opened it, She was surprised to see Faith there. "Faith, when did you..."_

_"Sorry but I don't have time for you at the moment." Faith said as she backhanded Dawn across the face. Dawn was knocked back into the wall, her head thudding against it. _

_As she passed out the last thing Dawn heard was her mother saying,"Dawn, who is it?"_

Seeing the look of worry on Dawn's face Tara said, "Dawn whatever happens we won't let Faith hurt you."

"Okay then." Dawn was still worried but she knew that Willow and Tara would protect her. She told herself that they wouldn't be considering this if they thought that Faith would hurt anyone.

"There's something else." Willow went on, "We're going to deactivate the Buffy-bot."

Dawn's first thought was that this would be like losing her sister again. This surprised her as she hadn't realised till then how much she had come to look on the Buffy-bot as being a replacement for her sister. Then she began to wonder what would happen to her once everyone knew that Buffy was dead. "What about me, will I have to go live with my dad?"

"Well no one knows where he is." Dawn paled at this. As much as she disliked the idea of going to live with her father, she really didn't want to have to live with foster parents. She didn't know why she couldn't just stay there with Willow and Tara. "We're going to look into becoming your legal guardians."

"That is, if you want us to?" Tara added. She had seen Dawn pale, and it suddenly occurred to her that Dawn might not want to stay with them. After all she'd be a lot safer with her father, or with anyone who was away from Sunnydale.

"Of course I do." Dawn's face lit up with excitement as she said his, "Is it possible?"

"We're not certain yet, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure that you don't have to leave your home." After this they spent the rest of the evening discussing their plans. Both for getting Faith out of prison and for getting guardianship of Dawn.

* * *

With a heavy sigh Willow opened up the box and pulled out a bundle of bills. She then began to sort them into three piles. Noticing Tara come in she said, "Hi. I was just prioritising the bills."

Tara pointed at the third pile , that all seemed to be on the same threatening shade of red paper, and said, "I take it this is the 'urgent' pile."

"Uh, no." Wilow pointed at the second pile and said, "This is the 'urgent' pile." She then pointed at the third pile and said "This is the 'pay us now or we send the boys round' pile." She gave Tara a weak smile then went back to work. Noticing the bank statement Tara picked it up and read the balance. She glanced up at willow a moment then turned back to double check it. "We seem to be a - a little overdrawn."

Willow looked up, blushing, "Oh, yes. Well , um..."

"What happened to the money from Mrs Summers insurance."

"A lot of the went on paying her hospital bills and for the funeral. The rest didn't last very long."

"And here I was about to suggest we start a college fund for Dawn." Tara sighed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I didn't want to worry you. I was hoping something would come up."

Tara sat down and taking Willows hand in her own she said, "You shouldn't have kept this to yourself." Wilow just nodded, finding it hard to meet Tara's eyes. "Well you know what we have to do."

"Rob a bank?"

"I was going to say get jobs."

"Oh, coz I've looked round our bank and they have terrible security. It'd be easy." Tara frowned slightly so Willow went on, "Okay well the Magic Box is getting lots of business so I think that Anya would like some more help."

Tara brightened at this. "Thats a good idea. You should ask her tomorrow."

"Me?" Willow said in shock. "Work with Anya? No way. We wouldn't last a day."

"But you're getting on a lot better with Anya."

"Maybe when I'm just seeing her occasionally but working with her all day" Willow shook her head, "Nu huh, it wouldn't work."

"Alright so I'll ask Anya. What about you?"

"I'm sure that I'll find something."

"Okay. And Willow? You don't have to hide this sort of thing from me. I want to help."

Willow smiled and said, "I know baby, I just didn't want to worry you."

"Willow, I kinda do worry. All the time in fact. And I guess that you do to so wouldn't it be better if we were worrying about these things together? I don't want to feel left out."

"Oh god Tara, I'm sorry, I just thought..."

"I know Will, and it was sweet, I don't want you thinking you have to look after me, I want us looking out for each other."

* * *

Willow and Tara arrived at the Magic Box with their arms linked, chatting about something that Miss kitty had done. They stopped as they saw that Anya was trying to indicate that she wanted to talk to them. They walked over to the side of the room and Anya said, "After we talked last night I began wondering how you were doing for money, I mean since neither of you have incomes."

"Actually we wanted to talk to you about that." Tara said, "I was wondering if I could have a job here."

"Of course you can. You're hard working and you know all about magic. Now if you wanted me to give a job to Willow that would be a different matter. She's terrible at wrapping stuff and she steals."

"Hey I'm standing right here."

"Of course you are." She patted Willow on the arm in a condescending manner.

Seeing Giles come in from the training room, Willow said, "I better go and talk to Giles." She just hoped that Giles would take the idea better than Xander had.

"Giles we've been discussing the problem that we've been having with Patrol."

"Yes Xander arrived with Anya and he mentioned something about a plan."

"What did he say?"

"He didn't say much, but I got the impression that he wasn't happy." Giles took his glasses off and began wiping them, wondering what had gotten Xander in such a tizzy. From the way Xander had acted he was starting to worry that Willow had come up with something foolhardy like resurrecting Buffy.

"We want to get Faith out of prison." Willow blurted out, hoping that Giles wouldn't explode too badly.

Giles gave a sigh of relief. He missed Buffy but he had dreaded Willow trying to bring her back and the possible repercussions. Given how powerful she had grown recently he knew that she might have thought that she was up to it. Trying to not let his relief colour his reaction too much Giles took a moment to consider her idea. "Yes, well that would be the logical thing to do."

"The problem is we don't know where to start."

"Might I suggest the Watcher's Council." Noticing Willow's expression he went on, "I can understand your hesitation but it is this sort of thing that they're good at."

"But will they want to help us?" Considering how hard the council had tried to kill Faith Willow wasn't too hopeful about how much they'd be willing to help. Actually she suspected that their reaction would make Xander's seem moderate.

"As Buffy pointed out they are rather pointless without a slayer, so yes I do think that they will be willing to help." Giles decided not to mention that the only other alternative the watchers council had was to kill Faith so that another slayer would be called.

"Okay, if you can get in touch with the council."

"I'll do it now, before it gets too late." Glancing at his watch Giles worked out that Travers would be sitting down for his tea soon. knowing how much Travers hated to be disturbed Giles hoped that he would be able to get through to him beforehand.

* * *

Faith stared at the woman who was sitting on the other side of the glass screen and tried to figure out who she was. She was wearing a finely cut black suit and had a long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Faith got the impression that she was either a lawyer or a watcher. Neither possibility was particularly good.

The woman glanced round the booth uncertainly before taking the phone off the wall and saying into it, "I am Claudia."

"Yeah, well good for you." Faith asked, still trying to work out whether this woman was working for Wolfram and Heart or the watchers council.

"I have been assigned as your new watcher."

_Well that answers that question_. Out loud Faith said, "Maybe you haven't noticed but I'm in prison. I don't need a watcher in here."

"That is an easy problem to deal with." Claudia said, a smug expression on her face.

_Oh yeah, she's a watcher._ Faith took a moment to appraise the other woman. She didn't exactly seem to be experienced or battle hardened. In fact Faith didn't think that she'd be much better than Wesley had been. Not that it mattered much. "Really, well it's nice of you to offer. Actually a lot nicer than trying to kill me but I think that I'll pass."

"Will you? Faith I understand what you're trying to do here. Making up for past mistakes and all that. But really what good are you doing in here?"

Faith started to explain how she was a murderer and how she ought to be punished for it, but under Claudia's cool gaze she couldn't get the words out.

"If you really want to make up for your past mistakes then surely the best way is to prove that you can live up to your destiny. Prove that you can be as good a slayer as Ms. Summers was."

Faith wanted to argue with this. To explain that she deserved to be there, but again she couldn't. Ever since Angel had arrived to tell her what had happened to Buffy she had been less and less sure that she was doing the right thing by staying in prison. She knew that she had a destiny to fulfil and that she wasn't doing this in prison. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. We'll do everything."

* * *

Willow was sat in the dining room working at her laptop. Tara sat down near her and spent a few minutes watching Willow working.

Willow turned from the screen and smiling at Tara she said, "I'm just getting some information on adopting Dawn."

Tara got up and moved round behind Willow so that she could see the screen. Putting her arms round Willow she asked, "Any luck? I mean will it be possible?"

"Oh yes." Willow said happily, "Actually it should be quite simple."

"It should?" Tara had been worried that after getting Dawn's hopes up it wouldn't turn out to be possible. She had been berating herself for not waiting till they had more facts before telling Dawn. Now Willow was telling her it would be simple.

"Yes it will in a drawn out and complicated kind of way but it is possible,"

Tara grinned at her girlfriend's quirky way of putting things, "So what do we have to do?"

"Well one of us adopts Dawn as a single parent."

Tara frowned at this ,"But I thought that we were both going to adopt her."

Willow turned back to look at Tara, reaching back to take her hand, "Well that's where we get to the drawn out and complicated part. Once that has been approved the other person applies for a second parent adoption."

"So afterwards we'll both be Dawn's parents? You're right that is..."

"Needlessly complicated?"

"Exactly."

"Well, we're pretty lucky as California is one o the best states for allowing gay couples to adopt."

"That is a relief. I had been worried..." Tara stopped with a frown.

"That they might take Dawn away from us to stop us from recruiting her into our lesbian lifestyle?" Willow filled in.

"Again I say exactly. So what do we do now?"

"Now we have to talk to a lawyer."

"That sounds expensive."

Willow nodded then, turning back to her computer, she said, "I know which means I'm going to have to work harder at getting a job."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - In which our heroines welcome Faith into the fold.

Willow and Tara walked to the Magic Box at a brisk pace, Holding each others hand. "I wonder what Giles wants?" Willow asked. It had been four days since they had spoken to him last. Last night Giles had phoned them and asked them to come to the Magic Box early this morning.

"It's probably to give us an update on Faith."

"I hope that they can help us. I mean I don't trust them but having them help should make it a lot easier." Willow had done some research of her own but hadn't found anything. At least not anything legal and she didn't think that Faith would be able to help much if she was constantly looking over her shoulder for the police. Having reached the Magic Box Willow opened the door and held it for Tara. Everyone else was already there. Xander and Anya were by the table while Giles was standing behind the counter.

"So what's up?" Willow asked, "Is this about Faith?"

"Actually yes. I spoke to the Travers yesterday and he told me that they have already been making preparations to get Faith out of jail. They should be on their way here this morning."

"What do you mean they?" Anya asked, worrying that the shop was going to be over run by watchers again.

"Faith and her watcher." Giles seemed to be a little put out by something, probably the fact that he wasn't being allowed to act as Faiths watcher. "As I was saying they should arrive around about..." he stopped as the door opened and Faith and Claudia came in, "Now." Giles moved round the counter to greet them both. "Hello, you must be Claudia."

"Indeed. I assume that you are Giles."

Claudia held her hand out and Giles shook it. Then pointing at the others he said, "These are Willow, Tara , Xander and Anya."

Claudia turned to them with a pleasant smile and said, "It's a pleasure, I'm sure . I've heard a lot about you all."

Xander found that he was growing more and more uncomfortable at being near Faith. Frowning he muttered, "I have to get to work." He snuck out the back. Anya went to the counter, her expression a mixture of worry over Xander's sudden exit and boredom over the whole proceedings. She began rearranging the till while Giles went off to talk to Claudia. Tara walked over to Faith, who had been hanging back out of the way. Willow stayed back so that she could observe Faith a moment.

"Hello again."

"Hi. Tara, right?"

Tara nodded, then added, "How are you feeling?"

"Awkward mainly. Did you even know that I was coming."

"Yes. The council had told us."

"But only after we asked them to get you out of prison." Willow said as she finally moved to join them.

"That sounds like them." Then as Wilow's words sank in, "Wait up, you wanted to get me out of prison?"

Willow nodded. Glancing about she noted that everyone else was busy. Taking Tara's hand she suggested, "Maybe we should show you around."

They went to the training room first. Looking round Faith gave out a low whistle. "Very nice, I bet B liked this." She hesitated a moment then said, "Why do I get the feeling this is about more than just showing me around.?"

"Because you're right. We want to know what your intentions are."

"My intentions?" Faith said uncertainly. She had imagined a lot of things on the way here but not being grilled like a young man who was about to go on his first date with his girlfriend.

"Are you here to help us or to cause trouble?"

"I'm here to help of course." Faith smiled then added, "But I would say that wouldn't I?"

Tara, who had been quiet till then said, "I think we can give you a chance to prove yourself."

Faith gave her a grateful glance then turned back to Willow to see if she agreed.

Willow nodded then said, "I guess that we can. However if this does turn out to be a trick..." Willow paused dramatically, "Well I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

Deciding to change the subject Faith asked, "I wonder what B would think about me being here?"

"Actually this was B's, I mean Buffy's idea."

Faith opened her mouth to respond then closed it again, not sure what to say. She frowned as she considered this, then said, "Red... Buffy's dead."

Willow turned to Tara and said in a slightly exasperated tone, "Why do people keep saying that?"

"Perhaps because it's true." Tara said with a slight smile. Turning to Faith she went on, "We held a seance to talk to her."

"Yeah okay, I guess that explains that. So you had this seance and Buffy was like, You want to get Faith out of prison." Faith seemed to be genuinely intrigued by what they were saying.

"Something like that." Willow answered.

"Oh, well I have to say that I'm surprised." Even as she said this Faith was starting grow hopeful. If Buffy could forgive her then maybe the others could as well.

"You might want to talk to Xander at some point soon."

"Xander?"

"He wasn't happy about the plan." Tara explained.

"Well then I guess I ought to clear the air with him."

* * *

Giles and Claudia watched each other a little warily, as if sizing each other up. Finally deciding to break the silence, Giles said, "I see that council decided that I wasn't up to the job of acting as Faith's watcher."

"You know that it's tradition for a watcher to only be in charge of one slayer." Claudia had a very crisp way of speaking that made it hard for Giles to work out exactly what she was feeling.

"Tradition of course, how could I have forgotten?" The sarcasm in Giles voice suggested that that answer didn't satisfy him.

"Besides there were members of the council who felt that you should be kept away from Faith so she won't be infected with the same rebellious nature as Buffy." While Claudia's tone was very formal, there was an edge to her voice that suggested that she didn't have much time for this opinion.

"When should I leave?" Giles' voice was still heavy with sarcasm as he said this. He found the idea that council was worried about Faith getting more rebellious ludicrous. He also didn't like the implied criticism of Buffy.

"I must say that I argued against the idea quite forcibly." Claudia said hastily. "I know that you could be a great help to both myself and Faith."

"I'm flattered." Even though his voice was dry Giles was starting to think that maybe Claudia was more flexible than she first appeared to be.

"At first the council wasn't sure about Buffy being helped by civilians."

"I know, they told me several times." There was a certain amount of drollness to his voice. Of course the Council didn't approve of anything that was different from their traditional methods.

"However after the fight with Glory they began to realise just how much help Buffy received from her 'Teen Angels'."

"Actually they call themselves the 'Scooby Gang'." Giles corrected her with a smirk.

"Quite, I got my cartoon references mixed up. Anyway I'm hoping that they'll help Faith in the same way, the problem is..."

"They don't trust her."

Claudia nodded. "So I was hoping you'd be able to, shall we say, smooth things over."

"I'll do what I can. Though I have to say that I don't know how much I can trust her either." Giles sighed then said, "Well since you're here you may as well help us with this problem we're having."

* * *

Tara went into the dining room to find Willow working on her laptop. Willow was normally happy when on a computer but now she just seemed to be annoyed.

"Hi, what's up?"

"Oh I'm just looking for a job." Willow answered giving the screen a dismissive wave.

"I take it that it's not going very well."

"You could say that. It's finding something that I can work in around my classes. Especially as they all want experience, How can I get experience if I can't get a job?"

Tara moved behind Willow and rubbed her shoulders. "I'm sure that you'll find something."

Willow shrugged, "Well I hear that the Double Meat Palace is hiring." When Tara didn't respond she went on, "That was a joke. I'm sure I can do better than that."

"You taught the computing class at high school didn't you?"

"Yeah and I still have doubts about how legal that was."

"And you tutored one of the students in your final year."

"Only because Snyder made me. I shouldn't say this but part of me is glad that he got eaten by a snake." Then as Willow realised what Tara was saying a large smile appeared on her face. "I could tutor people."

Tare waved at the computer and said, "You were able to teach me to use one of these things to I think that you can teach anyone."

"Okay then, that's a good idea that I had."

"Who had?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow.

Suddenly standing Willow turned and kissed Tara before admitting,"Okay, so maybe it was you."

* * *

Dawn turned the television off then started up to her room. She had gotten up a couple of steps when someone knocked at the door. "I'll get it." Dawn called to no one in particular. She opened the door to find Faith there. "Faith." Dawn couldn't help recalling the last time she had been in this position.

"Hi." Faith said, as Dawn took a nervous step back. "Are the witches about? We're supposed to be going patrolling."

"They're just getting ready. Do you want to come in?"

Noticing how nervous Dawn was Faith said, "Nah, I'll wait out here."

Closing the door Dawn ran upstairs and knocked on Willow and Tara's door before going in.

"Who was at the door, sweetie?" Tara asked.

"It was Faith." Dawn swallowed and tried to calm herself before saying, "She wants to know if you're ready to go."

Willow checked she had everything then said, "I'm ready. Tare?"

Tara nodded absently, still watching Dawn. As Willow started downstairs Tara went to Dawn and said in a reassuring tone, "Remember how we said we wouldn't let Faith hurt you. We really meant it."

"I know." Dawn said, starting to feel a little better. She knew from past experience how far Tara would go to protect her and while she never wanted Tara to be hurt for her sake again, it did reassure her a little.

* * *

Faith led the way, striding purposefully through the cemetery, a stake in her hand , ready for any trouble. Willow and Tara followed closely behind, their arms linked.

"So how have things been lately? Pretty quiet?"

"Not really." Willow answered, "We've been getting a few vampires each night."

"Which is good." Tara added.

"No offense but how do you figure that?"

"Normally when it's quiet it means that something apocalypsey is coming."

"Right, Quiet bad. Gotcha."

"Don't you know it's dangerous to be out this late." A short figure said as it stepped out of the bushes. It was wearing a long black leather jacket over a ripped white T shirt and black leather trousers.

Faith twirled her stake once then asked, "Didn't you know it's not safe for your kind to be out any time?"

"Yeah well, way I hear it the slayer's dead. Her friends have just got some robot filling in."

"Funny, you'd think I'd have stopped moving about if that was the case."

"You're not..." The vampire stopped as something made it look down. It saw a stake buried in it's chest.

"You were saying?" Faith asked as the vampire exploded into dust. "Damn." Faith muttered.

"What?" Willow asked.

"I wanted that jacket."

"Um.." Tara started hesitantly, "I think the bigger problem is how did he vampire know about Buffy and the Buffy-bot."

"I don't know. Maybe someone, or should I say something, noticed something when we were patrolling. We never were able to get it fighting as well as Buffy."

Tara nodded, "I guess it was a matter of time before they noticed. What with it's tendency to get bits knocked off."

Faith smiled at this, "Well then I guess it's a good thing that I'm here to take over." Neither Willow or Tara could argue with this.

* * *

Spike was just leaving Willy's Place when he was stopped by a large muscle bound demon. It loomed over Spike and had large horns growing from it's head, and was walking on cloven hooves. Spike tried to get around it but the demon stopped him again. "Right you've asked for this." Spike put his game face on.

"I'm not here to fight you." The demon said in a low monotone voice which was completely different from it's normal harsh growl. The thing that struck Spike as being oddest was that this type of Demons vocabulary normally didn't extend beyond, 'I crush you! Crush you to goo!' "I want to help you."

"Who says that I want your help?"

The demon laughed, it's voice still oddly flat, "They were right. You are the slayers bitch."

"Hey, I've killed for less than that."

"killing, yes you used to be good at that. I can help you be good at it again."

"What, you're going to take this chip out? I've heard that one before."

"You don't need the chip out, You've killed with it in."

Spike nodded remembering how he had killed that girl when he had gone out with Drusilla. "How did you know about that?"

"It's all about mind over matter." The demon said, ignoring Spikes question. "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Now if you were to kill her you would show everyone you are still someone to be feared even with the chip."

Spike laughed, "So that's it. You want me to kill the slayer for you."

"Not the slayer. The key. kill her and everyone will know that you're still the monster you always were."

"That's an idea. " Spike returned to his normal appearance and seemed to be thinking about it. Spike suddenly grabbed the demon by the horns and, spinning it's head around, he broke it's neck. Dropping the body he said, "No."

"That was rude. "A second, smaller demon that seemed to be covered with maggots, approached, it's voice the same monotone as the first demon.

"Okay, you want some as well do you?" Spike said, feeling pumped up after the kill.

Moving faster than seemed possible the demon punched Spike and knocked him out. Then as if acting on some silent signal, a dozen demons of various races came out of the shadows. They picked up Spike and carried him off. They ignored the dead demon, a strange black liquid running out of its mouth, nose and eyes.

* * *

Faith walked down a dark narrow alley, her sense keyed for any signs of danger. There was a blur of motion and something hit her in the stomach. Faith double over in pain. As she recovered Faith looked up to see who had attacked her, Kakitos.

"No." Faith moaned. "You're dead."

"Then you think that I would have stopped moving about." Kakitos said, copying Faith's earlier comment. He swung at Faith but she managed to block the blow before burying her stake into his heart. Then it wasn't Kakitos any more.

"Oh god, Willow!" She quickly moved to catch Willow and lowered her to the ground saying, "Don't die. Please don't die." But Willow was already dead. "Oh god." Faith sobbed. "This can't be happening."

Hearing movement up ahead Faith looked up. Tara was approaching. Her normally calm face twisted with rage. Her eyes were pitch black and there was lightning flowing between her hands. "I... owe... you..."

* * *

Tara was standing in a long, grimy passage she didn't know how she'd gotten there and for some reason it didn't matter to her. The only light was a patch of sunlight, far behind her, yet she could see perfectly. The passage sloped downwards and the walls were made from compressed dirt. Not sure what else to do Tara followed the passage down. After she'd been walking a while she came across a group of large brutish creatures. They stood about seven feet tall, with broad stooped backs. They were all of large build and cover with muscles. Their arms ended in flat, shovel like hands which they were using to dig the tunnel. They were grunting to each other as they dug out the passage, in low throaty voices. As Tara got closer she realised that they were singing. Suddenly one of the trolls broke through into a chamber beyond The tunnel was suddenly flooded with green light. It was so bright that Tara had to look away. Then everything went quiet. For a moment Tara couldn't hear anything, then a voice recited,

"Late last night, and the night before,

Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers,

knocking at the door.

I want to go out,

don't now if I can,

because I'm so afraid of the Tommyknocker man."

* * *

Spike woke up to find himself hanging from a tree, his feet several meters off the ground. A quick check showed him that his hands were chained together, around a particularly thick branch of the tree. Spike tried to break the chains. When that failed he tried to either break the branch or pull himself off of it. His actions grew more and more frantic as time went on. He kept on struggling right up until the sun came up. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Tara, wake up."

For a moment Tara didn't know where she was. Looking up she saw Willow, watching her with a concerned expression. Raising her hand to Willow's face Tara asked, "What's wrong?"

Willow smiled and answered, "You were having a nightmare."

"I was?" Tara tried to remember it but came up blank, "I don't remember."

"Well it doesn't matter now." Wilow kissed Tara gently, before laying back down and wrapping her arms round Tara. Tara was just starting to drift back to sleep when the dream came back to her. She sat up, disturbing Willow, who blinked at her and said sleepily, "Wha?"

"We have to talk to the others."

* * *

They all gathered at the Magic Box, early in the morning and Tara recounted her dream to them.

"So you think these Tommyknockers are behind the attacks?" Tara nodded and Giles went on, "Well I have heard of them. They were supposed to have been gnomes who would tap on the supports of mine shafts to warn of cave ins."

"These weren't gnomes." Tara said with a shake of her head, remembering the large brutish creatures from her dream.

"I thought that they were supposed to be aliens?" Xander put in.

"That's only if you live in Maine." Claudia retorted. She closed her eyes and seemed to be think for a while. Opening them again she said, "I've heard a few legends about Tommyknockers, As well the one Giles mentioned there are also stories that they're the spirits of miners who were killed in cave ins. Another is they're a race of tunneling ogres."

"Yes that sounds right."

"So?" Anya asked, "Tara just had a nightmare. She's not the slayer, she doesn't have prophetic dreams." No one noticed Faith flinch at this. "This might have nothing to do with the attacks."

"You don't understand." Tara said, trying to sound more forceful than she felt, "This isn't just about the attacks. Those things are digging something up and it isn't friendly."

"So this means that we need to do research, right?" Willow tried to stop her excitement from being too obvious.

"Yes, I dare say it would be a good idea to research this."

"I think Faith and I should do some training." Claudia said, "After all we don't know how many we're going to be facing."

Faith, who had been worried about having to do research, jumped up and said, "Yes, training, definitely a good idea."

Xander watched Claudia and Faith go into the training room then said, "That Claudia, she's a bit odd."

"Well she does have a rather formal way of speaking but I assume that's due to her upbringing."

"What do you know about her?" Willow asked.

"I spoke to the council and they assured me that while, as Xander said, she is a little odd she isn't evil."

"Wow, even the watchers council think that she's odd." Xander said.

"Yes, I was told that she has some theories that are a little unorthodox, which is why she has always been on the outskirts of the council."

"So how did she end up as Faiths watcher?" Tara asked.

"I guess they thought she'd be best able to control Faith." Giles sounded uncertain about this. The people he'd spoken to had been rather vague on this subject.

* * *

"I don't suppose that you saw many vampires in prison." Claudia said as Faith changed into her training clothes.

"You'd be surprised." Faith retorted with a slight smirk.

"I suppose that I would." Claudia moved to stand near the training dummy. "Let's just try some basic moves, so I can get a baseline."

"Whatever you say." Faith answered with a glint in her eyes. Spinning round Faith kicked the dummy in the head. Claudia was forced to dodge out the way as the head went flying into the far wall. Claudia turned to look at the head, then at the headless dummy. Finally she turned to Faith and said, "If you can do that to a vampire then I guess that we needn't bother with a stake. Well let's work with the punching bag."

"Have you ever?"

"Have I ever what?"

"Killed a vampire."

_Claudia gazed at the house, nervously as her father rummaged through the boot of the car. "Are you sure this is okay?"_

_Her father didn't answer her. He just handed her a stake and a torch_

_"I haven't read anything about this in any of the diaries."_

_"Are you questioning me?" her father turned to face her, his face flushed with anger._

_Claudia took a step back, "No sir." her father was normally okay, but his temper could flare up at the smallest thing._

_"You can't be a proper watcher unless you've killed a vampire, in real world conditions. Whatever that fool Travers might say."_

_Claudia nodded and started towards the door. She reached for the handle then hesitated. "Get in there." Still she hesitated. "I won't have a coward for a daughter." Gathering her courage Claudia went into the house. She had only take a few steps when she heard the door lock. Turning her torch on Claudia shone it round the room. She was in a narrow hallway that was completely unfurnished. The carpet was frayed and so dusty that it was impossible to tell what colour it had once been. There were a couple of door along the hall but they were both both locked. The door at the end was open and led into the kitchen._

_There were several cupboards round the room but their doors were whether hanging off their hinges or missing completely. There was a table int he middle and at first Claudia thought it had been painted red. Moving closer she saw that it had been stained red with blood. Noticing a wallet on the floor Claudia bent to pick it up. There was an I.D. in it that said, Meals On Wheels._

_"That was so convenient." A cold voice said behind her, "It's a pity they stopped coming after their fourth delivery woman disappeared." Claudia froze, not knowing what to do. All the lessons she had learned had vanished from her mind. "Now turn around so I can get a good look at you." As Claudia turned the vampire actually seemed surprised. "I see someone's gotten to you already, who did that to your face?"_

_"I walked into a..." Claudia stopped wondering why she was bothering to lie to this thing. "My father."_

_"He hurts you often, doesn't he?" Claudia nodded, "You hate him, don't you? Want to hurt him back." She nodded again. "Well if you're a a good girl and don't struggle I'll help you to do just that." Claudia nodded and the vampire moved to bite her neck. At the last moment Claudia staked it through the heart. The vampire stepped back, a mixture of shock and betrayal on it's face, before disintegrating._

"Yes." Claudia said after a few moments, "When I was fifteen."

* * *

When Faith had finished training Claudia went to help with the research. Faith stayed in the doorway to the training room watching the others. Willow and Tara were both caught up in the books they were reading. Xander had a book propped open in front of him, though it was obvious he wasn't reading it. Deciding that now was a good a time as any Faith went over to him and said "Xan man, can I have a word."

"Um okay." Xander answered a little nervously.

"I meant alone." Faith nodded towards the training room.

"Um okay." Xander repeated. He cast a frightened look at the others but no one seemed d to have noticed what was going on.

Faith went into the training room and Xander followed. As he walked through the door, Faith grabbed him from behind. Before he could react, she had drawn a knife across his throat.

"Well are you going?" Anya asked, waking Xander from his day dream.

"Um okay." Xander walked into the training room with a certain amount of trepidation. He was relieved to see that Faith was sitting a way off on the horse.

"So I understand you didn't like the idea to get me out of prison."

"No, but Faith no offence."

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." Faith held up her hands and said, "See no weapons. Besides if I wasn't me I wouldn't have liked the idea either."

"But since you are you?"

"Prison was a drag. Anyway as Claudia said, I wasn't helping anyone there."

"you weren't hurting anyone either."

"True. So I guess the question is are you going to give me a chance to prove myself like blondie and red are?"

"I guess that I can do that. But if you..."

"Chill Xander, Red's already read me the riot act and she's a lot more frightening than you are."

"Oh well okay then."

* * *

Faith shone her torch round the entrance of the tunnel, "Is this the place?"

Tara moved forward to take a look, "It looks like it." The walls looked the same as in her dream but it was hard to tell for sure since she hadn't seen the entrance.

"Well then let's get going." Faith led the way into the tunnel, followed by Xander and Anya. Willow and Tara came next and Giles and Claudia brought up the rear.

After they'd been going for a while they came to a spot that Tara recognised, "This is the place from my dream."

"So we're almost there."

They kept going and soon heard the sound of digging, along with a strange grunting sound. Then they came into sight of the things making the noise. There were about fifteen of the creatures crowded at the end of the tunnel. They were fervently digging, mindless of their companions. On several occasions one of the creatures either hit one of the others or threw a handful of mud in it's face. The strangest thing was that the slighted creature didn't react to this. As they got closer some of the creatures broke away, but most continued digging. Faith ran forward and began attacking them. Xander quickly followed, hitting them with the axe he was holding. The Tommyknocker swatted him away with it's large, spade like hands. As he picked himself up something occurred to Xander, "I wonder where Spike is? He would have enjoyed this."

"You let Spike help you?" Faith asked after breaking one of the creatures necks.

"It's a long story." Xander answered before turning to block an attack.

One of the Tommyknockers ran past Faith and knocked Willow to the ground. Willow raised her hands to protect her face as it clawed at her. Seeing this Tara quickly cast a spell, intending to knock it away. Instead though, a fireball flew from her hand, incinerating it. The fireball continued on, forcing Faith to dive out of the way, and killed several more of the Tommyknockers. It hit the far wall and exploded.

"Hey, warn a girl, will you!" Faith said.

"I didn't... I..." Tara was looking at her hands as if they had just betrayed her. The Tunnel began to shake and dirt began to fall from the ceiling.

"I suggest that we leave." Giles said. They quickly ran back down the tunnel. Getting out just before it collapsed.

"Well I guess that that took care of that problem." Faith said.

"Quite, though Tara is it wise to be using such powerful dark magics?"

"I didn't... I mean that wasn't supposed to have happened." Tara couldn't understand how the spell had gone so drastically wrong, or where the power had come from to cause so much damage.

* * *

Willow went through her drawers and picked out some night clothes. "That was Giles on the phone just now. He and Claudia checked out the tunnel and it seems to have been completely filled in. So we don't have to worry about whatever it is in there getting out. Though we'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure that no one else tries to dig it up." Noticing that Tara hadn't responded to her Willow walked over to Tara and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Not really. I'm really worried about what happened. The spell should have just knocked the thing away from you, not destroyed the whole tunnel."

"So the spell went a little wrong..." Willow wasn't sure what the problem was. Her spells often went wrong and she had always just tried to learn from her mistakes and resolved to try and do better next time.

"That's more than just a little wrong. I mean where did all that power come from? What if I can't control it? I almost killed Faith the last time."

Willow wrapped her arms round Tara, "It's going to be okay. We're going to figure this out."

Tara nodded, though she was still uncertain.

* * *

When Tara got to the Magic Box Claudia was explaining to Giles, Faith and Anya, "Well it was definitely those Tommyknockers who were behind the spate of attacks. It seems that some of them were coming up from the tunnel to grab some lunch." Noticing Tara she came over and said, "Can I have a word?"

Tara nodded and followed her to the back of the shop. "I guess that this is about last night."

"Yes. According to Mr Giles you've never done spells of that strength before."

Tara nodded, "That's right. It's pretty scary."

"Yes. I can well imagine. I think I can help. I know someone, he runs a magical school."

"A school for witches?"

"Witches, magicians, anyone who uses magic. Anyway I think that he might be able to help you work out what caused this power boost, and more importantly how to control it."

"Okay, how do I find him."

"Ah that's the tricky part. The school can only be found if you have a special charm." Claudia reached into a pocket and pulled out a necklace. "This will lead you to it and let you in."

Tara took the necklace, "Thanks."

* * *

When Willow got home she was obviously excited about something. "Did you talk to the school principle?" Tara asked her. Willow had been going to talk to the principle about advertising her tutoring services.

"Um, no actually. I didn't have to. You see I met up with Billy's mom there and she's looking for someone to tutor her daughter. She remembered me from when I tutored Billy so she's given me the job."

"That is good news." Tara said, smiling she went over to Willow and hugged her.

"It gets better. She said that she's going to mention the fact I'm tutoring to her friends. With any luck I should start getting a lot of offers."

"So when's your first class?"

"It's tonight."

"Oh." Tara tried to hide her disappointment at this. She had hoped that Willow would come with her to see Samuel.

"You're going to see that Samuel guy tonight aren't you?" When Tara nodded she went on, "Well I could always phone them and change it to another night."

"No that's okay. I'll be fine going on my own."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive."

* * *

Pauline balanced the tray that she was carrying and opened the door to her husbands room, "John, I brought you some dinner."

"Dirty, everything is so dirty." He was wiping at his arms, a confused and disgusted look on his face.

Pauline sighed, he had been like this for six months now. None of the doctors had been able to come up with any explanation for his condition, or any cure. There was a knock at the door and Pauline put the tray down saying, "I'll be back in a little while." Pauline went downstairs and opened the door. She was startled to see two men dressed all in black and with masks hiding their faces. "What..." There was a buzzing sound and she lost consciousness.

The two men quickly ran upstairs. Looking at them John said, "You can't see me, because I'm a cat."

* * *

Tara walked down an alleyway, looking about nervously. She didn't like the area that the necklace had brought her to. Tara was beginning to have doubts about this school and she was regretting not having accepted Willow's offer to come with her. The only thing that kept her going was the worry of what would happen if she didn't learn to control her new powers. Suddenly the necklace began flashing. A moment later a doorway appeared floating in mid air. Opening it, Tara stepped through. 


End file.
